The present invention relates to controlled motion mechanical members used as a mechanical manipulator as the basis for a controllable platform and, more particularly, to a motion controllable mechanical manipulator which can be formed from repeated use of components of relatively few component types.
A strong desire for increased automation in the workplace, and a desire to provide new experiences in centers of entertainment and to increase the use of animated figures depicting animals, humans or other characters in such entertainment and in other situations, along with an increased ability to control such mechanical manipulators, has led to substantial efforts in the development of robotics. As a result, substantial advances have occurred in many aspects of robotics.
Perhaps the most widely used controlled component in robotic systems is a mechanical manipulator, that portion of a robot used to change the position of orientation of selected objects engaged or supported by that manipulator. In many instances, such mechanical manipulators are desired to have capabilities similar to those of the human wrist or shoulder, that is, exhibiting two or more degrees of freedom of motion.
Although a number of such mechanical manipulators have been developed which to a greater or lesser degree achieve some of these desires therefor, most have been relatively complicated devices requiring complicated components and difficult assembly procedures or both. Many, in addition, represent compromises in having relatively limited range, or singularities within the ranges, or other limitations in performance. Thus, there is a strong desire for a mechanical manipulator which can, under control of the user, position objects, even supported objects carrying the user, anywhere over at least a more or less hemispherical surface portion, and in some instances to choose a different such surface further from or closer to the manipulator base, without any singularities in the operation of the device in this range, and which can be made both reliably and inexpensively.